Mark CatesbyThe Java Hare - A very detailed hand colored engraving by Mark Catesby (1683-1749 from his breathtaking series "The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands". This print is from the Third edition, published in London in 1731-44 [1771]. Overall this print is 14&#148; x 20&#148;. In 1712, the English-born artist and naturalist Mark Catesby embarked on a series of expeditions to the southern colonies of British North America. Enthralled by the wildlife of the New World, he spent years traveling by foot through parts of present-day Virginia, Georgia, the Carolinas and the Bahamas. Over the course of his journeys, he encountered and documented uncountable varieties of animal and plant life that were entirely unknown to Europeans. His drawings and written observations were the raw material for an unprecedented project: a scientific account of previously uninvestigated wildlife, with illustrations taken from life. When Catesby returned to England from his final voyage to America in 1726, he was unable to afford the expense of having his drawings engraved professionally. Undeterred, he taught himself to etch with the assistance of Joseph Goupy, a French artist living in London, and went on to produce all but a few of the plates for his publication. He scrupulously monitored the coloring of the engravings, either painting the impressions himself or closely supervising the work to insure its fidelity to his preparatory studies. The result of Catesby&#146;s tenacious effort was the most sweeping, complete and unique natural history study ever done. Widely considered a crowning achievement of 18th-century art and science, Catesby&#146;s Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands has lost none of its power to delight in the 250 years since its publication. This remarkable study of American plants, animals, and marine life provided an important model for later artists, including John James Audubon, who followed in Catesby&#146;s footsteps a century later. The works illustrated here are among the masterpieces of Catesby&#146;s Natural History. The artist&#146;s charming, distinctive style is immediately apparent in these engravings, and Catesby&#146;s enthusiasm for his subjects is palpable. Aside from their esthetic charm, however, Catesby&#146;s illustrations were significant for other reasons. His pioneering attempts to describe and portray birds accurately, life-sized, and in botanical settings set him apart from his contemporaries and foreshadowed the work of Audubon and Alexander Wilson. He was the first to abandon the Indian names for his subjects, trying to establish scientific names based on generic relationships. Indeed, the great Linnaeus, working on his Systema Naturae at this time, used Catesby&#146;s work as the basis of his system of binomial nomenclature for American species. For all these and many other reasons, these are magnificent prints both for their beauty and importance. The quality of the work was so far superior to foregoing accounts that many scholars rank Catesby as the first real naturalist in America. Overall this print is in very good condition with some foxing/staining.

Allain Manesson MalletPresbourg (Hungary) Paris 1683 - Allain Manesson Mallet (1630-1706) From Description de L'Univers Paris: 1683-88 Hand-colored copperplate engraving (later color) 13 ½&#148; x 11&#148; framed Allain Manesson Mallet began his career as a musket bearer in the regiment of the guards of King Louis XIV. He later became a military engineer and Sergeant Major of the artillery of Portugal. Upon returning to France, he served King Louis XIV as the Master of Mathematics. In 1683 Mallet began publishing his five-volume Description de l&#146;Universe, which consisted of maps and views from throughout the world.

Pittis, Thomas, 1636-1687A Discourse Concerning the Trial of Spirits. Wherein Inquiry is made into Mens Pretences to Inspiration for publishing Doctrines, in the Name of God, beyond the Rules of the Sacred Scriptures. . London: Printed by B. W. [Bernard White] for E. Vize 1683 - *The price of this item has been reduced until Sunday as part of our October ABEBOOKS sale* .In opposition to some Principles and Practices of Papists and Fanaticks, As they contradict the Doctrines of the Church of England, defined in her Articles of Religion, established by her Ecclesiastical Canons, and confirmed by Acts of Parliament. By Thomas Pittis, D.D. one of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary.; first edition; 12mo (leaves lightly taller than 17 cm.), [4 leaves] (beginning with title, A1), 359, [1] (advertisement) pp.; mostly disbound and now in self wrappers, first four leaves lightly margin tattered with no loss, a small section of leaves has light damp stain in fore edge with no letters touched, D5 has small hole near page number also with no letters touched, general age toning but not fragile and entirely readable; not everyone who pretends to revelation or inspiration is to be believed; liars, madmen, and especi. Photos available upon request.

BLONDEL [François]Nouvelle Manière de fortifier les places. Paris, François Le Cointe for the author & Nicolas Langlois, 1683 - 4to. Engraved allegorical title + [10] + 68 + [6]p + 12 engraved plates (10 double-page) by [Jean Baptiste] Broëbes; 3 engraved vignettes, floral woodcut ornaments, one armorial head-piece, decorative initials. Contemporary mottled calf, compartments of spine richly gilt, one with title morocco label; ends of spine and corners worn. First edition of this exposition of the author's system of fortification, a widely read work which ran into many editions. The plates represent layouts of fortifications and diagrams (8 signed by the artist J. B. Broebes). Blondel advocates an intricate defence system based on massively built, long flanks fortified with casemates on several floors and with polygons heavily defended with canon and small arms to stop intruders before attempting to cross the elaborate, deep ditches. His system was partially applied by the Swedish army in the fortifications of the city of Wismar. A good copy with minor traces of wear only; inside front cover the contemporary manuscript entry: 'Ce Livre apartient a Monsieur le Commandeur de St Martin de Laraye'. Berlin Katalog 3533; Jähns 1391-92; not in Jordan who lists an Amsterdam reprint of the same year (0333) and 7 later editions; Goldsmith (1211) lists a Hague edition of 1684 in the British Library. SEE ILLUSTRATION [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]

WURFFBAIN, J.B.Salamandrologia, h.e. descriptio historico philologico philosophico medica Salamandrae quae vulgo in igne vivere creditur . - Norimbergae, G. Scheurer, 1683. Small-4to (198 x 163mm). pp. (6), 133, (15), with engraved frontispiece and 5 engraved folded plates. Contemporary half vellum, spine with red gilt lettered label, marbled sides. First book on salamanders. The present work is an expanded version of the author's dissertation 'Salamandra', published in 1677. "He dissected salamanders and described the food contents in the stomach. He confirmed that 'Salamandra' is live bearing and found 34 larvae in one female. He also observed the shedding of the animal's epidermis. And he proceeded to rebunk most of the prevailing myths. The plates illustrate the external appearance of several species, the larvae, eggs, skeleton, internal organs including the urogenital system, and mythical figures from emblems and hieroglyphics. The two titles represent the first comprehensive basis for our modern understanding of salamander biology' (Adler 2, p. 18). J.P. Wurffbain (1655-1711) was a German physician. Without the leaf 'directions to binder' which is often discarded by the bookbinder.Nissen ZBI, 4485. [Attributes: Hard Cover]

Saint AugustineSermons de S. Augustin sur Les Pseaumes. In two volumes Paris - Chec Pierre le Petit 1683 - An extremely scarce seventeenth-century French translation of Saint Augustine's sermons on the psalms. In French. With vignette titles, decorative head and tail pieces and capitals. With tables of the key things in each volume to the rears. Augustine of Hippo (November 13, 354 August 28, 430), also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, was a Latin philosopher and theologian from Roman Africa. His writings were very influential in the development of Western Christianity. According to his contemporary, Jerome, Augustine established anew the ancient Faith. After his conversion to Christianity and baptism in AD 387, Augustine developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and different perspectives. He believed that the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom, and he framed the concepts of original sin and just war. When the Western Roman Empire was starting to disintegrate, Augustine developed the concept of the Catholic Church as a spiritual City of God (in a book of the same name), distinct from the material Earthly City. His thoughts profoundly influenced the medieval worldview. Augustine's City of God was closely identified with the Church, the community that worshipped God. In the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, he is a saint and pre-eminent Doctor of the Church, and the patron of the Augustinian religious order; his memorial is celebrated 28 August, the day of his death. He is the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, the alleviation of sore eyes, and a number of cities and dioceses. Augustine was one of the most prolific Latin authors in terms of surviving works, and the list of his works consists of more than one hundred separate titles. They include apologetic works against the heresies of the Arians, Donatists, Manichaeans and Pelagians, texts on Christian doctrine, notably De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Doctrine), exegetical works such as commentaries on Book of Genesis, the Psalms and Paul's Letter to the Romans, many sermons and letters, and the Retractationes, a review of his earlier works which he wrote near the end of his life. Apart from those, Augustine is probably best known for his Confessiones (Confessions), which is a personal account of his earlier life, and for De civitate dei (Of the City of God, consisting of 22 books), which he wrote to restore the confidence of his fellow Christians, which was badly shaken by the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410. His On the Trinity, in which he developed what has become known as the 'psychological analogy' of the Trinity, is also among his masterpieces, and arguably one of the greatest theological works of all time. He also wrote On Free Choice Of The Will (De libero arbitrio), addressing why God gives humans free will that can be used for evil. Condition: In full calf bindings. Externally worn, loss to leather and joints cracked. Internally, firmly bound. Remarkably bright for their age and generally clean with a few spots and marginal tidemarks. Monastic library bookplates to front pastedowns, and ink stamps to titles and last pages. Overall: GOOD ONLY [Attributes: Hard Cover]

Hale, Sir MatthewA Short Treatise Touching Sheriffs Accompts [with] Tryal of Witches 1683. Notable Treatise on Tax Collection Bound to a Famous Witchcraft Trial Hale, Sir Matthew [1609-1676]. A Short Treatise Touching Sheriffs Accompts. Written by the Honourable Sir. Matthew Hale, Kt. Sometime Lord Chief Justice of His Majesty&#39;s Court of King&#39;s-Bench. To Which is Added, A Tryal of Witches, At the Assizes Held at Bury St. Edmonds, For the County of Suffolk, on the 10th of March 1664, Before the Said Sir Matthew Hale, Kt. London: Printed, And are to be Sold by Will. Shrowsbery, 1683. [viii], 110, [1]; [iv], 59 [1] pp. Two parts, each with title page and individual pagination, the second title with the imprint, London: Printed for William Shrewsbery, 1682. Octavo (6-3/4" x 4-1/4"). Contemporary calf, blind rules to boards, rebacked in period style with blind fillets and lettering piece. Light rubbing to extremities, corners bumped and lightly worn, front pastedowns loose, early owner bookplate to inside of front board. A handsome copy. * First edition, one of two issues from 1683, the other does not include the witchcraft trial. Hale was one of the greatest legal minds in the history of English law. His historically grounded treatise on the sheriff&#39;s role as a tax collector was commissioned by the Lord Treasurer and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It had a second edition in 1716. "It show&#39;s Hale&#39;s mastery of the early history of the Exchequer, and of the history and seventeenth century practice of the financial relations of the sheriffs and the crown; and it contains some valuable suggestions for improvements in the existing practice (Holdsworth). A Tryal of Witches, an unrelated work, was originally issued in 1682. It is an account of the Lowestoft Witchcraft trial conducted at Bury St. Edmonds. Well-known in its day, this remains the most famous trial of its kind because it was well-documented in Hale&#39;s pamphlet and involved many leading jurists and experts of the day, most notably Thomas Browne, a physician who presented one of the earliest examples of psychiatric testimony as an expert witness. Brown&#39;s testimony was later quoted by Cotton Mather during the Salem Witchcraft trials. Some say the Salem trial was inspired by Hale&#39;s pamphlet. Holdsworth, A History of English Law VI:589. English Short Title Catalogue R14358.

Maimonides, Moses (R. Mosis Majemonide); Abarbanel, IsaacR. Mosis Majemonidae de Sacrificiis Liber :Accesserunt Abarbanelis Exordium, seu procemium commentariorum in Leviticum: et Majemonidae Tractatus de consecratione calendarum, et de ratione intercalandi. Quae ex hebraeo convertit in sermonem latinum, & notis illustravit Ludovicus de Compiegne de Veil, A.M. Typis Milonis Flesher, sumptibus auctoris, prostat apud Mosem Pitt, & apud Brabazonum Aylmer, London 1683 - 8vo. (10) 450pp. 3/4 Vellum over marbled boards with brown lettering and library plate to spine. Age wearing throughout binding.Some tears, discoloration, scuffing and rubbing to boards and spine. Some browning and foxing to pages, not affecting the script. Welling to pages. Ex library. Library card pocket pasted to inside of front board. Perforation to title page: Philadelphia Divinity school. Inscribed by owner with pencil: "to Paullus Reinhardus." This first Latin translation contains texts from Moshe ben Maimon aka Rambam aka Maimonides (1135-1204) and Yitzchak ben Yehuda aka Abravanel Isaac Abrabanel(1437-1508). In Latin, with some writing in Hebrew. Cover in fair, book in good condition. [freely translated: Rabbi Moses Maimonides' volountary sacrifice: An approach to Abarbanel's introduction and commentary on Leviticus, and Maimonides' Tractate on the consecrated calendar and the rational calendar change]R. Moses Maimonides (Rambam) was a 12th century Jewish philosopher and halachic legal scholar. A highly controversial figure, both during his lifetime and after his death, but generally acknowledged as the preeminent Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba, Spain but fled as a child from the Almohad persecution. He eventually settled in Egypt where he served as a rabbi, physician and philosopher. His fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah, his only work not in Arabic, still carries canonical authority, particularly within the Yemenite Jewish community, as the codification of Talmudic law. His other work includes a commentary on the Mishnah entitled Kitab al-Siraj, Kitab al-Fara'I, a book on precepts, and the philosophical work Dalalat al-Ha'irin, known in Hebrew as the Moreh Nevukhim, The Guide to the Perplexed. The major premise is an attempted philosophical/theological reconciliation of the Hebrew Bible and Greek knowledge. This work came to play a central role in all subsequent major controversies over philosophy within the Jewish community during the Middle Ages. [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]

Bulteel (John, ed.)The Apophthegmes of the Ancients; taken out of Plutarch, Diogenes Laertius, Elian, Atheneus, Stobeus, Macrobius, and others. Collected into one volume for the Benefit and Pleasure of the Ingenious. Printed for William Cademan 1683 - FIRST EDITION, lightly spotted, pp. [xvi], 112, 123-335 (text continuous), [3], 8vo, contemporary blind-ruled sheep, slightly rubbed, small chip from head of spine, boards bowing a little and pastedowns lifted, very good The first edition of the last recorded work of John Bulteel (c.1627-c.1692), author and translator, best known in his day for a translation from Racine. This compilation of pithy sayings from antique sources is expectedly influenced by Erasmus&#146;s collection of &#145;Apophthegmata&#146;, but Bulteel is not uncritical of his model: &#145;Erasmus himself has committed an hundred faults, thorough [sic] his great hast, and because he went about it but by piece-meal, some part at one time, others at another&#146; (Preface). ESTC locates six copies in the UK and five in the USA. (ESTC R2992)

[CURLL, EDMUND]Faithful Memoirs of the Life, Amours and Performances of that Justly Celebrated and most Eminent Actress of her Time, Mrs. Anne Oldfield. Interspersed with several other Dramatic Memoirs. By William Egerton [pseud] [Edmund Curll]. First edition.. The appearance of the binding leaves a little to be desired, but it is perfectly serviceable; and the text is fine and clean.. Lowe, English Theatrical Literature 3384; Straus, The Unspeakable Curll, page 291. 8vo, modern decorated boards, black label, gilt lettering. Folding frontis portrait. A biography of one of the most ?celebrated actresses of the English stage . . . she was a woman of extraordinary beauty, as well as talent, and famous both as a tragic and comic performer . . .? - Lowe. Anne Oldfield (1683-1730) was buried at Westminster Abbey. There were numerous competing memoirs of her, and she was memorialized by numerous literary figures, including Richard Savage. Curll wrote this under one of his pseudonyms, and it was the first of several Covent Garden memoirs he was responsible for.

ROME (City). Igreja e Hospital de Santo Antonio da Naçaõ Portuguesa de Roma.Estatutos da veneravel Igreja e Hospital de Santo Antonio da Nação Portuguesa de Roma. Rome, Impressa na Rev. Cam. Apost., 1683. - Woodcut of St. Anthony on title-page. Woodcut initials and tailpieces. Printed on excellent quality paper. 153 [actually 151, with pp. 145-6 skipped in numbering, as required], (4 ll.). 4°, nineteenth-century (ca. 1875?) blind-stamped olive cloth, flat spine with gilt letter, marbled endleaves. Occasional light spotting. Overall in very good to fine condition; uncut. Bookplate of Aníbal Fernandes Thomáz. Substantial note of six lines in pencil by Fernandes Thomáz on verso of front free endleaf. ---- FIRST EDITION of the statutes of the Portuguese church and hospital of Saint Anthony at Rome, difficult to obtain with the 4 leaves of index at the end. The hospital was founded in 1440 by D. Antão Martins de Chaves, Cardinal-Bishop of Porto (under the aegis of the Portuguese church in Rome) for the care of resident nationals and pilgrims.Set out here are the administration, daily operation, staffing, finances and admission standards of the hospital. The @Estatutos also specify the legal obligations and liabilities of the institution, wages, penalties for various employee abuses and the duties of the physicians, pharmacist, archivist, accountant, nurses, barber-surgeons and cook (with the kitchen's opening and closing times). Pages 54-8 contain a chapter on "Couzas pertencentes á hospidalidade e enfermeria." Book III (pp. 129-51) deals exclusively with the hospital, giving detailed information on its administration. The church, built by Martino Lunghi, was completed in 1652. This work is rare. Complete copies such as the present one, with the four unnumbered index leaves at the end, are even more difficult to obtain. A second edition appeared in Rome, 1863; a third was published in the same city in 1872.---- Krivatsy 6127: calling for 153 pp. Bibl. del Senato, @Catalogo . di statuti VI: 264-5. Not in Innocêncio or Fonseca, @Pseudónimos. Wellcome IV, 553. Not in Lisbon, Faculdade de Medicina, @Catálogo da colecção portuguesa. Not in Pires de Lima, @Catálogo da Bibliotheca da Escola Medico-Cirurgica do Porto. Pinto de Mattos (1970) p. 260. Fernandes Thomáz 1851 (presumably the present copy); see also 1850 (without the index). Monteverde 2206: calling for only 153 pp. No Roman imprints in the Portuguese language are listed in Thomas, Goldsmith, or Penny (1938). [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]

Nebrija, Antonio de; Joannis Gonzalez ManriqueDictionarium, Aelii Antonii Nebrissensis Grammatici, Cronographi Regii: Matriti (Madrid): Ex Typographia Regia, 1683. Hardcover. Very good. Folio. xii, 835pp. Old calf, spine in seven comparments with raised bands, gilt. Title page in red and black. Entries in Latin and Spanish. Leather crfacked and rubbed, joints strengthened, lettering label (if there was one0 perished, leaving only a blind impression of the title on the spine, top corner of the front free endpaper neatly replaced, but still a very good, presentagvle copy.Antonio de Nebrija (also Lebrija) , a Reinaissance humanist sometrimes compared to Erasmus, first issued this Latin/Spenish dictionary in the 15th century. This edition, though a reprint, is important in its own right as it contains important revisions (including 6000 additions) by JOannis Gonzalez Manrique. Palau 189207. In Latin and Spanish.

written originally in French by Monsieur Muret ; and translated into English by P. Lorrain.Rites of Funeral. Ancient and Modern in Use Through the Known World London : Printed for Rich. Royston 1683 - 16mo. [10], 308 pages. Muret, known as Muretus, was a renaissance French Huguenot, homosexual, Latin prose stylist, from Limoges. This account of funerals was written to promote Christianity, in comparison to pagan religions. Good clean copy. Dedicated to Samuel Pepys by Lorrain. With accounts of Chinese, Greek, Italian and Persian funerals. 19th century, half brown morocco, marbled boards and endpaper, front board loose. Sabin 51443. From the Library of Sir (Robert) Leicester Harmsworth (1870-1937), sold at Sotheby&#146;s, 28th portion, 23.10.1951, lot 8607, for £5.50, with his pencil note &#145;Muret*&#146;, the star being a characteristic feature of Harmsworth&#146;s annotations. [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]

[Siege of Vienna].Vienna assediata del Turco, 1683. Vienna, 1683.. Folio (280 x 190 mm). 70 ff. Italian ink ms. on paper, with a rare engraved folding map of the siege of Vienna by Johann van Ghelen (1684). 19th-century Italian blue sponged marbled boards.. A remarkable, apparently unpublished manuscript chronicle of the 1683 Siege of Vienna by the Turks, which marked the turning point in the 300-year struggle between the forces of the Central European kingdoms and the Ottoman Empire and cemented the Habsburgs power. The manuscript begins with a historical account and background, touching on the problems of religious liberty, the Hungarian resentment against German domination, and other problems which led to the interference of the Turks and their aggression against the West. The chronicle continues in great detail, almost in the form of a contemporary diary, providing a day-by-day account of the unfolding events from 1 August 1683 until the end of the siege when the defeat of the Turkish army at Vienna became the turning point in the long East-West struggle. The story gives, among other things, detailed figures of the strength of the Christian and Turkish forces, listing all regiments with their commanders and the number of troops. The pagination, which despite being a self-contained account begins on 131, and the legible uncorrected script, indicate this was likely prepared for publication in a larger work. Includes(before f. 160) a rare engraved folding map of the siege of Vienna from Johann van Ghelen's "Relazione compendiosa e veridica del famoso assedio dell'imperiale citta di Vienna, attaccata da Turchi li 14. di luglio, e liberata li 12. di settembre 1683".